Sport & Commercial Law – Annual Review 2024/25

Welcome to the Commercial Law chapter of LawInSport’s Annual Review 2024/25.

We were spoiled for choice in our field of entrants for coverage this year. To name a few highlights, we saw:

• Minority and majority takeovers of Everton FC by the Friedkin Group, MLB’s Baltimore Orioles by a group led by David Rubenstein, Inter Milan by Oaktree Capital Management, and Leeds United by Red Bull.

• The opening of UK professional cricket league ‘The Hundred’ to private investment, and the acquisition of Hampshire Cricket by GMR Global, the Indian conglomerate co-owning IPL’s Delhi Capitals

• Ongoing regulatory reform and disputes alike, including updates on an independent football regulator for English football, and a landmark challenge by French footballer Diarra of FIFA’s player regulations.

• Key sponsorship and naming rights deals from Allianz’s purchase of the naming rights to Twickenham Stadium, to Saudi Arabia’s PIF becoming the principal sponsor of Formula E, E1 and Extreme E (while also making inroads into tennis and cricket via partnerships with the ATP Tour and the ICC respectively).

• A diverse range of broadcasting deals such as Netflix’s agreements with WWE and the NFL, DAZN’s with Ligue 1 and the FIFA Club World Cup, Disney’s with Reliance, and Warner Bros Discovery’s with the NBA (following a lawsuit).

• Generally increased financial regulation across multiple sports;^[1] and

• A seminal year for commercial activity in women’s sport. 

It is this final point - women's sport - that we have chosen as our focus. This chapter will review some of the essential highlights of women's sport under the following themes:

• Unbundling teams and tournaments
• The mission towards multi-club ownership
  • The regulatory position
• Commercial highlights
  • Investment/acquisitions
  • Sponsorship
  • Broadcasting
• The power of individual branding
• Looking ahead